Etawah,

02 Jan (HS): According to authorities, a truck driver was burned alive when two

vehicles crashed on the Agra-Etawah-Kanpur six-lane highway in severe fog. The

collision happened late Thursday night near the Pakka Bagh overbridge on

National Highway 2.

Police

said a vehicle transporting gypsum from Ahlanabad in Haryana to Varanasi

collided with another truck ahead of it after the latter quickly applied the

brakes in limited visibility owing to severe fog. Following the accident, the

truck laden with gypsum caught fire, swiftly spreading to the cabin. The driver

remained trapped inside the cabin and was enveloped by flames, killing him on

the spot, authorities added. Passers-by notified the police and fire department

about the fire.

Three

fire tenders were dispatched to the scene, and firemen were able to extinguish

the fire after almost an hour of hard work. By then, the truck's cabin had been

entirely destroyed. The incident and following firefighting efforts disrupted

traffic on the major highway for many hours, according to authorities. After

the fire was quenched, authorities retrieved the driver's charred remains from

the burned cabin. The dead identified as Jaskirat Singh alias Lovely, a native

of Sirsa, Haryana, by the driver of another truck following behind, according

to police.

According

to police, the crash occurred as a result of the truck ahead suddenly braking

in severe fog, giving the following vehicle little time to respond. A

crane was then utilized to remove the burned vehicle off the road, and traffic

resumed. The

deceased's remains were submitted for a postmortem examination once the proper

formalities were completed, according to police.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi